Still Waiting for that Internet Revolution
Two nights ago I attended the 2008 What’s Next Forum and Technology Awards Ceremony hosted by the Massachusetts Innovation Technology Exchange (MITX). The Technology Awards “recognize and celebrate innovative [marketing] technologies developed in New England.” My company, PermissionTV, was nominated as a finalist in the “Video” category. Although we didn’t win, it was a great event and it was nice to be considered for the award given the exceptional companies and great talent that was assembled.
Despite a brief interruption due to a fire alarm (the event planners must have loved that), there was still enough time for a short panel discussion on whether software licensing and service fees could be affected by competition in the form of ad-supported online software services. In particular I found Baba Shetty, Chief Media Officer at Hill Holiday to have some insightful remarks. Baba stated that while the Internet has enabled a “seek out or keep out” permission-based ad model that by definition should lead to higher ROI on targeted online ads, corporations are currently suffering with “an outdated marketing infrastructure” that prohibits them from realizing the full benefit of internet marketing and ad-serving technology. I took his comment to mean that the majority of people in marketing these days would still rather focus their time and budget on mailing postcards and attending trade shows. It’s what they know and are comfortable with. This sentiment was echoed by Jeff Bussgang, General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, who pointed that while it’s “easy to get into experimental budgets,” there still has not been widespread commitment from corporates to create an Internet-centric marketing or advertising strategy.
Based on my experiences formerly leading an Interactive Marketing Agency and currently with an Online Video Delivery company, I tend to agree. Interactive is still seen as a “tack-on” to the overall marketing plan, instead of a core delivery and metric model to both online and offline tactics. This reality is not caused by deficiencies in the technologies or products available, but rather in the people who are charged with their implementation and use. For those corporations that have the right personnel in place, they are able to reap the benefits – but from my vantage point, the widespread revolution of internet-based marketing is still a few years away.
